Gryffindor Idiocy
by black laurel
Summary: So this is where Gryffindor idiocy leads to. Harry/Draco slash with a tiny bit of Ron/Hermione. Two shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: **_**Important!**_ **_In this fic Voldemort never came back on Harry's fourth year._** Dunno yet if he'll show up later on. This will be a two shot, and hopefully I will be able to finish and post the second part soon. This fic was mostly written (well, really finished) for old times sake. H/D was the first pairing I ever shipped. **I'd need to have this betaed, but I'm not too sure how that works.** ...I'm such a n00b... Heh.

_Harry's thoughts_

**_Letter_**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling does.

**Warnings:** Slash (male/male relationship) of the H/D kind and some OOC-ness.

**Gryffindor Idiocy**

"Don't look Harry, but Malfoy's staring at you again", Ron whispered.

"What? Again?" Harry answered. This was the seventh time they had caught Draco Malfoy staring at Harry during breakfast.

"I think he's up to something", Ron muttered ominously through his sandwich, "And I'm sure that we aren't going to like it."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. He had been worried about Malfoy's behaviour since their fourth year at Hogwarts had started. While it would have been quite normal for Malfoy to scowl at them once in a while, these stares lacked the usual animosity.

Malfoy had also started avoiding encounters with Harry, Hermione and Ron (a thing he usually sought for), and when one of those encounters happened, it usually ended with violent results.

While Harry couldn't really think of a plan that would involve staring at him, he knew that it wasn't wise to underestimate Malfoy's sneakiness.

Harry glanced at the Slytherin table briefly, so as not to be noticed looking. Malfoy was looking down at his plate, clearly irritated.

"_Yes, something odd is definitely going on"_,thought Harry.

**xXxXxXxXx**

After that seventh time, Malfoy stopped staring completely. He no longer even glanced to Harry's direction. Almost a month went without any contact between the two of them. Still, Harry couldn't help but notice that Malfoy had become more silent and secluded. Harry had been quite shocked when his friends had complained about the very same things. Expect it hadn't been Malfoy they'd been talking of; they were talking about Harry. Had he really been thinking about Malfoy that much?

Harry still didn't stop thinking about Malfoy. He found his reclusion intriguing, for he was never really alone, but still very lonely. Not that just anyone could have noticed, it took years worth of observing to see even for a bit through Malfoy's arrogant pureblood facade.

Harry started wandering through the empty corridors and classrooms under his Invisibility Cloak at night. He found it relaxing to have time alone for his thoughts away from his friends overly worried questions.

One night he came across to a very memorable sight. He saw Malfoy in an unused classroom, sitting on a windowsill. The moonlight that framed him made him look ethereal, and the sad look on his face made him seem somehow frail. Harry couldn't help but find him gorgeous.

Harry stood there, mesmerized, for a long while. When Malfoy shifted a little, he snapped out of it. Harry left quickly, feeling quite disturbed.

"_Malfoy? Gorgeous? No, no, no… He's pointy and… Stuff. I mean he's _Malfoy_ for Merlin's sake!"_

Harry returned to his dorm, but couldn't sleep for a long time because his head was too full of thoughts.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Over the next weeks Harry tried to stop thinking about Malfoy by spending more time with Ron and Hermione. They seemed overly glad with his company, as if Harry had been away, he had noted with a guilty twinge.

Just as he had become rather proud of his progress, he heard a conversation between his two best friends that made him freeze to where he stood. It was already quite late and Harry had been going to one of his night time walks.

"If Harry keeps staring at Malfoy I'm seriously going to believe that he has a crush on him. I mean honestly! He didn't stare even Justin this much when he had a crush on him at the start of the year", said Hermione, feeling confident about speaking so openly because of the seemingly empty Common Room.

"Harry had a crush on Justin?! When did this happen?" Ron spluttered. It took him a while to get over the fact that his best friend was gay and hadn't told him.

"And even if he is gay he can't be having a crush on _Malfoy_. He's pointy and… Stuff!"

As Harry listened to Ron exclaiming his disbelief rather loudly, he felt started feeling increasingly alarmed. _"I can't be having a crush on Malfoy! …Can I?"_

Harry tuned back into the conversation, desperate to hear more and somehow not guilty at all about eavesdropping.

"Didn't you know that Harry's gay? I noticed ages ago! I mean, isn't it quite obvious?" asked Hermione.

"No!" was Ron's answer.

"Oh… Well surely you have noticed how his never been interested in girls? And how he acted even more shy than usual around Justin?" said Hermione.

"Now that you mention it… Yeah, I suppose he was", Ron admitted, "But that doesn't mean that he has a crush on Malfoy."

At this point Harry fled the room, not wanting to hear any more of their conversation.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Years went by, and before Harry and his friends knew, they were on their sixth year at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione had became Prefects in their fifth year and gotten together after one of their night patrols (Ron had apparently _finally_ kissed Hermione), and had been a couple since.

Harry was very happy for them, but couldn't help himself from feeling a bit jealous. His brief relationship with Justin at the end of fifth year had just simply dried up, and he hadn't had a boyfriend since. There was also the matter of a certain silver-eyed blond. The conversation he had overheard in forth year was still haunting him. Well, the conversation and the memory of seeing said blond sitting on a windowsill. Oh, and let's forget the moonlight. And finding him beautiful.

Harry had finally admitted his crush on Draco when after a physical fight with him in fifth year he had noticed that he was in the need of a shower. A very _cold_ shower. The memory of it still made him blush.

Sometime after he had admitted the truth to himself, he noticed that Malfoy had somehow changed into Draco in his head.

It wasn't until after the Christmas holidays that Harry did take action. He was on one of his usual night time wanderings, when he came across to a sight that gave him a strong sense of déjà vu. It was Draco, sitting on the same windowsill as over two years ago, looking even more beautiful then the last time.

He had a strong urge to kiss Draco, and Harry, being the brave (more like brash) Gryffindor that he was, did exactly that. He dropped his Invisibility Cloak to the ground and strode to where Draco sat.

The kiss lasted for quite a while, and Harry couldn't honestly say whether it was Draco or him that was more surprised when Draco kissed back. After for almost half a minute Draco suddenly broke the kiss.

"No…I, I can't", he stuttered and fled the room, looking quite disturbed.

"_Well that was odd",_ thought Harry, his mind still quite dazed from the kiss. It took a while for the gravity of the situation to hit him. "Oh hell! I kissed him!" he exclaimed.

Harry was attracted to Draco, yes, but that didn't mean that he couldn't see what a jerk he was. For even though Draco was still quite quiet and reclusive, his pure jerkishness (there was no other word for it) was undeniable. _"…I need help…"_

**xXxXxXxXx**

On the next morning Harry cornered Hermione in a secluded hallway. "Hermione… I did something really stupid", he confessed, sounding quite crestfallen.

"What is it Harry?" she asked, brow crinkling and brown eyes glittering with worry.

"I…I…" words failed Harry. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. _"Am I a Gryffindor or not?"_ he thought, ignoring the little voice in the back of his head that said: "It's your Gryffindor idiocy what got you in this mess in the first place…"

"I kissed Dra- Malfoy", he finally stuttered, looking away.

A myriad of emotions flashed through Hermione's eyes, there was shock, acceptance, and even a bit of smugness. "Oh, Harry… I don't know what to say… Perhaps if you'd explain the whole thing for me?"

And so Harry explained to her everything from the overheard conversation to yesterday.

"Oh my… And then he just left? How rude…" Hermione stated.

"Yeah, yeah, but what am I gonna do now?" Harry asked, sounding a bit desperate.

"Harry, I don't think you should do anything. If he approaches you, then perhaps… But you really shouldn't get involved with him in any way. Malfoy is bad news", she answered, frowning.

Harry nodded mutely.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Draco never did approach him, in fact, he avoided Harry like plague. In a way, Harry was very relieved, but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. He also couldn't make himself forget about the feel of Draco's lips against his own. It also didn't help that looking back; he couldn't help but find Draco's behaviour odd. Why was he in the abandoned classroom in the first place? Why did he respond to the kiss? And why did he say what he did? Why did he say that "he can't" instead of…Well, anything else. All these questions made Harry's head hurt.

And the thing was, there was no-one he could share these thoughts with. He didn't dare approach Hermione again after her having such a negative reaction to Draco. The only other choices were Ron and Sirius (who was still on the run), and the mere thought of telling either of them that he had kissed the Slytherin made Harry shudder.

This terrible state of confusion had been going on for over two weeks, and it was getting hard for Harry to keep up the appearance of everything being just peachy. _"If this goes on for much longer I swear I'm going to go crazy."_

His musings were cut as he heard near silent ranting coming from Myrtle's bathroom. _"When did I get here?"_ Harry thought. No-one ever came near this particular bathroom, since it was usually flooded with water. _"I really need to stop wandering around like this… Oh well, time to leave, don't want Hermione getting worried."_

He started walking away from the bathroom when he suddenly realised that the voice ranting did not sound terribly feminine. _"If that's Myrtle then I'm Snape."_ Curiosity got the better of him and Harry headed towards the door as quietly as he could and pressed his ear against it. After a bit of concentrating the muffled words started making sense.

"-such an idiot! Stupid Potter doing such a thing… What was he thinking?! Oh wait; he's a Gryffindor, being a complete fool comes with the job description!" Harry's eyes went impossibly round and wide, it was Draco! On the background Myrtle could be heard making vague sympathetic noises.

Draco's voice became quieter and Harry had to move his ear to the keyhole. "If someone found out about it I'd be so screwed… If Father gets into his head that I'm nothing but straight, well, I don't even want to know what he'll do. As true as it is… I'm the Malfoy heir; I need to get married with some snobby pureblood bitch to produce a new heir. It doesn't matter what I think, and…even though I'd rather be with Harry-", Draco's monologue ended to a loud bang coming from the door – Harry had hit his head on the handle.

Draco ran to the door, fully prepared to threaten the person on the other side to submission if they had heard anything. He slammed the door open and sent a frozen Harry flying. The still-frozen Harry stared at him with a deer-in-the-headlights look, lying on his back on the floor. Draco himself also froze, his eyes going wide and his mouth forming an "o". That only lasted for a few seconds before his face settled to a horribly pissed off look. Poor Harry was still frozen on the floor.

"What did you hear? I swear if you tell anyone _anything_, I'm going to hex you in to next week!" Draco threatened. On the background Myrtle could be seen staring at them curiously.

"But…" Harry tried saying.

"Shut up. You won't tell anyone anything, am I understood?" Draco was by now looking _beyond_ pissed. Harry couldn't help but nod.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Good", he said imperiously and stalked away.

Harry blinked dazedly. _"Damn. He's hot when he's angry."_

**xXxXxXxXx**

True to his word (well, technically speaking nod) Harry didn't tell a soul of what happened. He found himself daydreaming and staring into space even more than before, and because of that, his grades were slipping. Harry could see that Draco wasn't doing that good either. While Draco's grades were not slipping, it was becoming painfully obvious to any random bystander that he was incredibly stressed.

Harry also knew that Hermione was becoming beyond suspicious. She had actually tried to confront Harry several times, but so far he had managed to avoid her attempts. Though how long his luck was going to last… He didn't want to think about it.

Even Professor McGonagall had gotten worried, in her own strict way. She had questioned Harry about his dropping grades. Harry had assured that he just hadn't slept well lately.

For fifteen days Harry and Draco avoided so much as looking at the other – at least when the other could see.

The sixteenth day found Harry walking away from Potions class unaccompanied (Hermione and Ron had disappeared to have a little "alone time"). He took his time, not really even watching where he was going. Suddenly he was pushed against the cold and clammy wall by a pair of fairly strong arms. The next thing he knew someone's lips were pressed firmly against his. Before he could even think about reacting, they were gone.

"Idiot Potter", muttered the assaulter, already leaving. Harry stared at his retreating back, mouth wide open. Blond hair glimmered in the dim torchlight.

"Wait!" Harry yelled, but Draco would not. Harry started after him but Draco lost him effortlessly, he had the advantage in the dungeons, after all.

"_I don't understand anything anymore…"_

**xXxXxXxXx**

The next morning Harry received a letter while eating breakfast in the Great Hall. It came on a school owl and on top of it was written "Read this when you are alone". So Harry hastily stuffed the letter into his pocket and glanced towards Ron and Hermione. Thankfully neither of them had noticed anything; they were a bit too absorbed into quarrelling with each other to do so.

Harry stood up and made an excuse of going to the toilet. _"Well it's not technically an excuse…"_ he thought while locking himself into a cubicle. Then he opened the letter, anxious to know what it said.

_**Potter,**_

_**We need to talk. Meet me in the trophy room tonight at midnight. Burn this letter after reading it, and make sure that it can't be reconstructed.**_

_**M**_

"Incendio!" Harry cast, and the letter burned merrily. After that Harry flushed the ashes down the toilet. Then he closed the lid and sat on it, frowning thoughtfully.

The letter was from Draco, no doubt about it. Harry could have recognised that elegant handwriting anywhere. Besides, who else could it have been? Harry was pretty confident that he knew what Draco wanted to talk about too… The question was, did Harry want to talk to Draco about it?

Harry shook his head. _"What am I thinking about? Am I a Gryffindor or not? Of course I'll meet him!"_ he decided. _"Though I can't help but think about what Ron and Hermione would say… They'd probably claim it's a trap. But… What Ron and Hermione don't know, can't hurt them, right? And it's not like it's really any of their business."_

Nodding emphatically Harry rose up and went to find Ron and Hermione, he had classes to attend. Harry found lessons hard to concentrate on, but that was nothing new. He could hardly wait 'till midnight.

**xXxXxXxXx**

It was nearing midnight as Harry trudged along the corridors. He went up the stairs to the third floor and sneaked towards the trophy room as quickly as his Invisibility Cloak would allow. Right before entering he took off the cloak and stuffed it into his bag, no need for the Malfoy to see it. Upon entering he could see that Draco had already arrived. He was lounging casually in the shadow of a large glass cabinet filled with trophies of all kind.

"So you showed up", Draco drawled in an arrogant tone of voice, as if he couldn't care less.

"Yeah. I did", answered Harry oh-so-intelligently. There was a long silence.

"So… You wanted to talk", Harry said, trying to get the conversation started up.

"Yes… I wish to propose an…arrangement", Draco said slowly.

"An arrangement? What sort of an arrangement?" Harry asked, looking at Draco sharply.

"I'm willing to give this..._thing_ between us a try, on the condition that absolutely no-one besides us would know of it. What do you say…Harry?"

Harry was dumbstruck. It took him a while to gather his wits, but when he did, he could find only one answer for Draco's question: "I…say we should give it a shot."

Harry could have sworn he saw a faint, but definitely real smile on Draco's face.

"Good."

And that's how it began. Most their time together consisted of secret meetings and quick gropes in shadowed corners, but all things considered, both were happy. There were many fights of course, but that was simply unavoidable when those two were concerned. Harry got Draco to open up a bit more, and all was well.

…Until the end of their seventh year, that is.

It was the last week of school, and the seventh years were mostly lazing around since the N.E.W.T.'s were already behind them. Harry and Draco were meeting in the well-hidden abandoned classroom they tended to favour. Harry arrived after Draco as usual and even though to most Draco's face would have seemed emotionless, Harry could see that he was agitated.

"Were finished", announced Draco abruptly, staring out of the window.

Harry started visibly and cried: "What! Draco, what do you mean?"

"I _said_ were finished. We can't see each other any more."

"But, Draco I-", Harry tried saying.

"Oh shut up Potter. It's not as if I promised you forever", Draco drawled and stalked to the door.

"Draco, wait!" Harry pleaded.

Draco paused in the doorway and Harry felt a twinge of hope. However, instead of turning back Draco said: "Don't you dare try to contact me." After that he shut the door with a soft click.

Harry almost went after him, but something stopped him. Instead he slowly slid on the floor, leaning against the wall. As he tried to hold his tears back he couldn't help but damn his Gryffindor idiocy for letting himself get involved with Draco.

**Author's Notes:** It's not over yet! There's one more chapter. I was sorely tempted to name this thing "Harry Nods a Lot" you know... 'Cause he really does, in this fic. And that's kind of stupid. I should just shut up now.

This is seriously the longest thing I have ever written. Seven pages, dude, seven pages! Without the author's notes and whatnot the wordcount is 3116. For me, that's really long.

I simply adore reviews. Just so you know.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** First of all I would like to give my sincere thanks to everyone who put Gryffindor Idiocy on their story alerts, and give a special thanks to SwarmOfFanGirls who faved the story and reviewed, and to Rika'sGrayWolf who also added Gryffindor Idiocy to her favourites. You all inspired me to write the second part faster.

Just to make it clear: **Harry sees the dream from his own point of view even though it's written from a general view.**

_Harry's thoughts_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling does.

**Warnings:** Slash of the H/D kind and some OOC-ness.

**Gryffindor Idiocy**

Harry Potter, age twenty-one and single. He is currently living in a quite little flat in the middle of Muggle London which consists of a living room, a bedroom, an extremely small kitchen, and an even smaller bathroom. How did it come to this? Well, after three years of professional Quidditch he was left with more money and fame than he knew what to do with it, along with a couple of sports injuries. He went professional straight out of Hogwarts and quit at the age of twenty. After that he has been without a job, and without much to do. Due to his fame he has been forced to stay at a distance from the Magical community. He had no intention of getting every single thing he did printed in the Daily Prophet after all.

The day was a Thursday, seventh of August, just a normal day amongst many others. Or so Harry thought, but things were about get very complicated. He had just come from his daily run and taken a quick shower, when there was an urgent knock on the door. Frowning, he stood up from his puffy red couch and walked to the door. _"Who could it be, so late in the evening?"_

He opened the door and couldn't help but stare. _"…What!"_ He was about to vocalize that particular thought when the person before him spoke: "Hello Potter… It's been a while. I need your help."

"Malfoy", Harry snarled, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Draco scoffed and answered: "I told you already. I need your help. Now if you'd be so kind as to let me in. It's not exactly safe for me to stand around in such an open place."

Harry could read Draco fairly well even after all these years, and right now he was seeing urgency in the Slytherin's actions. So, against his better judgement, he let Draco in.

There was a long, awkward silence. Harry coughed and said: "So… What's this help you need?"

"Ehem, well… They are kind of…suspecting me of Father's murder", Draco finally said, sounding quite subdued.

At this point Harry's thoughts hit a brick wall. He blinked. And blinked again. "What?!"

Draco sighed. "I said-"

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you", Harry muttered, waving his hands dismissively. "Are you being serious?" he then asked with a look of pure disbelief on his face. Draco simply nodded.

"Ah", was Harry's answer. Silence filled the room again.

"Would you be so kind as to explain the whole thing from the start?" Harry finally asked with a very fake, painful-looking smile on his face. His left eye was twitching slightly.

Draco did not look too happy at this suggestion, but couldn't help but admit that he didn't have too many privileges in the current situation.

"I had been having fights with Father lately, about not wanting to marry. How the Ministry found out about that I have no idea… But yes, when Father was murdered three days ago it was naturally assumed that I was the one responsible. Now I might have let myself be captured for interrogation if it weren't for the fact that Father's murderer is after me. As if I'd let myself be in the Ministry's incompetent hands at a time like this… I have no intention of getting killed" Draco explained in a monotone voice. "I figured you were the only one I could trust."

"Umm… What is it exactly that you want me to do?" Harry asked.

"Give me a place to stay for the time being. It's not as if anyone would suspect me coming here. Perhaps even help me get the murderer caught. Her name's MirandaCrocskin, by the way", Draco answered while inspecting Harry's red couch with a disdainful look on his face.

Harry sighed. He knew there was no way he could _not_ help Draco. _"Damn my Gryffindor chivalry…"_

"Ok… So do you know why she wanted to kill your Father, and why is she after _you_?"

"I'm not all that sure… She had some kind of a grudge against Father. And apparently by default she has one against me also", Draco stated, now staring at Harry's red and brown striped tapestries with disbelief.

"I see… Alright, I'll transfigure the couch into a bed for you. We can think of a plan of action tomorrow", Harry decided. _"I really need some sleep. And time to think about this…"_

"Fine by me", Draco declared, gazing at the couch again, this time looking rather sceptical.

The evening went on with a surprising amount ease, but that might have had more to do with the lack of communication than anything else.

**xXxXxXxXx**

It was quite late and Harry was trying to sleep. His head however, was making things difficult, it was full of thoughts, as one must suppose, was expected. _"What are we going to do? What a mess this is…"_ he thought. Harry was, however, very thankful that Ron and Hermione (who were married with three kids these days) didn't often come to his smallish flat, and neither did Sirius (whose name had been cleared years ago and who was currently working a bit here and a bit there).

After an hour of tossing agitatedly around, Harry finally fell asleep, and he dreamt of the past.

_**Dream**__**/Flashback:**_

_It was the winter of Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts. The holiday had just started, and most of the students had stayed at Hogwarts due to a Yule Ball held in the honour of the exchange students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Harry and Draco were no exceptions to that, even though one might claim that they were staying for the sake of spending time with each other, rather than some Yule Ball._

_As it happened, they were having a rare peaceful moment of togetherness after managing to avoid their friends/minions. They were in the abandoned classroom they often favoured, many security and secrecy spells hiding them from the rest of the school's population. They were lazing on a green couch transfigured from a couple of old and beaten-up desks, with Draco sitting and reading, and Harry just lying there with his head in Draco's lap. Draco's fingers were carding through Harry's hair absently._

"_Hey Draco… I've been thinking", Harry's voice came as a soft whisper._

"_Hmm?" was Draco's answer as he turned his gaze away from the book and towards Harry._

_Harry found himself lost in Draco's silver eyes. He idly noted that t__here were little specks of blue in them. Draco raised an eyebrow, clearly prompting the other to speak. Harry tensed up._

"_I…I think I may…Love you", Harry murmured abruptly and turned his head to the side, gazing firmly at the stone wall. The hand that had been petting Harry's hair stilled._

_Draco opened his mouth soundlessly a couple of times._

"_I…Think I may also", he finally answered and started petting Harry's hair again. Harry smiled widely and closed his eyes, relaxing once more. That is why he never saw Draco's peaceful smile turn into a frown._

_**End of Dream/Flashback**_

**xXxXxXxXx**

The next morning Harry woke up in a foul mood. _"Stupid memory…"_

He walked out of his bedroom into the living room and saw that Draco was already awake, and the couch was back to normal. No greetings were exchanged. Harry walked into the kitchen, put the coffee maker on, and started making a simple breakfast for two. Soon they were having breakfast in complete silence. Later on Harry would blame what he said on the bad mood he was having.

"So… Why'd you dump me back then?" as soon as the very hostile sounding words left his lips he felt like banging his head against the table. Repeatedly.

Draco looked shocked for a few whiles. Then his expression turned thoughtful and he put his cup of coffee down with a loud clank.

"I suppose there's no harm in telling now that Father's…gone", he said slowly, and his eyes flashed with emotion, but it was too quickly gone for Harry to interpret it.

"The reason I broke things up… Well, you remember the time on our seventh year? When we said that we might love each other?" Draco asked and at Harry's nod continued, "That's when I knew that things had got too serious. Father was going to make me marry some pureblood wench to make a new pureblood Malfoy heir. It wasn't going to work."

"…I suppose I knew that", Harry whispered, staring absently in to the coffee cup he was cradling. _"I just didn't want to believe it."_

"I would have done anything for you", he said, not wholly intentionally.

"That's a dangerous thing to say", Draco answered.

"Yes", was all Harry could say.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Days went by as Harry and Draco patiently, and sometimes not so patiently, waited for the Ministry to get something done. It had been decided that since they knew nothing of Miranda Crocskin's whereabouts, they would not take any immediate action. So far the only thing that the Ministry had managed to do was put a warrant on Draco.

Those days stretched into a week, and without even noticing it, Draco and Harry grew accustomed to living together. They lived in a sort of an easy-going symbiosis, Harry cooked and Draco cleaned (the only reason Draco did so was because he couldn't stand living in the mess that was Harry's apartment). Discussions were mostly small talk, as neither of them was willing to talk about the more serious things after the first morning.

It had been a week and five days when Harry woke up in the middle of the night thirsty. He sneaked quietly into the living room, not wanting to wake up Draco. A small rustling from the transfigured couch made Harry glance that way. He was shocked to see Draco sitting up, sobbing silently.

"…Draco?" he asked hesitantly. Draco started violently and turned around. He stared at Harry for a while, an unreadable expression on his face. His eyes were read and puffy, Harry couldn't help but notice.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked tentatively.

"I'm fine", Draco answered, looking anything but.

"Are you sure?", Harry said, biting his lip and taking a couple steps closer. He was now right next to Draco.

"Yes!" Draco exclaimed and turned away, not wanting Harry to see the couple of tears that spilled over.

"Is this about your…Father?" Harry asked, sitting next to Draco. There was a long silence.

"He…May not have been all that good of a person, and yes, he was a bit distant, but he was still my Father. How could I not mourn his death?" Draco finally said after getting even the sneakiest of stray tears under control.

"Would you mind…If I asked…how he died?" as soon as Harry had said the words he couldn't help but think: _"Idiot! Of course he'll mind! He said it himself, he's _mourning_!"_

"Crocskin stabbed him in the back while he was walking through the garden. How she got onto a private property under so many security spells, I don't know. That's why I think it would be unwise to underestimate her", the whole speech was delivered with a bland tone of voice.

"Oh", was all Harry could think to say.

**xXxXxXxXx**

After two weeks of waiting it was decided that no more. Not even one more day of useless waiting would happen. They were going to do something today.

"…But what?" Harry wondered aloud.

"We're going to have to use me as a bait, as distasteful as it is", Draco drawled arrogantly.

"How's that going to work? I mean the Ministry could find you before Crocskin does", Harry said a bit sceptically.

"Ah. But it all comes to the fact, that as stupid as it sounds, in this matter I have far more trust in Crocskin than in the Ministry", Draco explained. "Now to think of a location… Malfoy Manor is out as I'm sure the Ministry has put there someone in case I decide to return…"

"Umm, by the way, where's your Mother?" Harry asked, feeling stupid that he hadn't think of asking that before.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure she's still at the summer villa in France. She never did like Father all that much, an arranged marriage you see", Draco answered and then froze with a thoughtful look on his face.

"That's it! The summer villa in France! I'm sure Crocskin will check there eventually. Let's just hope she already hasn't", the Slytherin's expression was one of pure success.

**xXxXxXxXx**

As it turned out, Draco's Mother had returned to the Malfoy Manor already, a fact of which they were very glad for. No need involving her into this.

They staked out near the front door of the villa with Draco just sitting there in plain sight, and Harry hiding under his Invisibility Cloak nearby.

Either they got extremely lucky or Crocskin had far better informants then they could have imagined, because she appeared after a couple of hours of waiting, screaming for vengeance as soon as she spotted Draco. Miranda Crocskin was a brunette in her late thirties. It was quite apparent that she had been downright beautiful when young, but time had not been kind to her.

"You filthy, cowardly maggot, how dare you try to hide from your destiny! The Malfoy line will die along with you, and my revenge shall be complete!" she screamed and laughed manically. Both Draco and Harry decided then and there that she was completely insane. It was that most likely that decision that made them underestimate her.

"You Malfoys should have never even thought about making my husbands business go bankrupt. He killed himself, you know? And now I'm going to kill _you_!" she hissed and almost spat with a murderous glint in her murky brown eyes.

Crocskin readied her trusty knife and lunged at Draco, not bothering for any of the finesse she had used while murdering the elder Malfoy male.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry cast, throwing the Invisibility Cloak aside. Crocskin's knife flew, but she did not stumble or falter. Instead, she pulled out another knife and stabbed Draco in the stomach before either Harry or Draco could react.

"Draco!" Harry yelled, very worried. He quickly stupefied Crocskin and ran to Draco's side. Draco's wound was bleeding heavily.

The rest of the evening was a blur to Harry. He somehow managed to get Draco to Saint Mungo's and explain to the aurors about the lunatic stabber that Harry had left on the lawn of the Malfoy's summer villa. After that he just sat in the waiting room, waiting for any sort of news, good or bad, about Draco's condition.

It turned out the knife Crocskin had stabbed him with was cursed, and as a result to that, it took three healers and nine hours to get Draco even stabilized. It took him a week to recover completely.

The first time Harry was allowed to see Draco he ran straight to him, swept him into a hug and kissed him straight on the lips. Harry blushed bright red after he realised what he had done.

"You had me worried", he muttered as an explanation. If he had been looking at Draco he would have seen a very sly grin on his face.

**xXxXxXxXx**

It was late in the evening when Draco was discharged, and he and Harry returned to Harry's flat as Draco did not feel up to going back to the manor yet. They stood around for a while, looking at each other awkwardly.

"If you're willing, I'd like to give…us…a new shot", Draco finally said a bit uncertainly.

After freezing for a bit Harry smiled brightly. "Of course I'm willing!" he very nearly yelled and pulled Draco into a kiss. It was hesitant at first, but soon they both gained more confidence. They knew neither of them was going to back out of this.

Soon they were lounging on the red couch (that Draco was starting to like against his will), with Harry's head on Draco's lap.

"You know… If we want this to work we'll have to do at least one thing", Draco suddenly said.

Harry perked up and looked at Draco expectantly.

"We really need to something about these tapestries of yours", he said completely seriously, indicating the brown and red striped monstrosities. Harry collapsed into a heap, laughing. Draco grinned.

After Harry stopped laughing they just lay/sat there, both thinking about the past and especially about the future. _"I wonder how Hermione, Ron and the others are going to react. They'll probably be pretty shocked, but I'm sure they'll all come around, even Ron"_, Harry pondered.

And even though there were surely to be many problems ahead with their new-yet-not-so-new relationship, Harry had to admit that perhaps Gryffindor idiocy wasn't such a bad thing after all.

The End

**Author's Notes:** A very big thank you for everyone who read this. Unless I get some really big inspiration this will probably be the only H/D fic that you'll be seeing from me. But then again, one never knows. The next fic I'm planning to write is a Naruto fic with the ItaNeji pairing. We'll see how that goes...

Thanks again for reading. I would be very happy if you reviewed, so please do.


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